The purposes of this project are: 1) to describe the formal and informal social structure of the people living in hotels for the non- welfare poor in the center city of San Diego: 2) to compare the adaptive mechanisms of people in such hotels with those of people who live in middle-class hotels nearby, and with those found among people in skid- row accommodations, also geographically nearby; and 3) to make recommendations concerning the social and health needs of these people to government officials, city planners, and concerned agencies. We are using the procedures of continuous long-term participant observation, as well as panel interviews with a random sample of residents in three types of accommodation, and case-history interviews, and daily diaries with selected residents. The research focuses on the unseen community-the informal social arrangements by which the residents of these hotels maintain their self- reliance and other mental health needs, and how they avoid dependency. The area in which these hotels are located is now undergoing urban renewal. We are maintaining a close check on the actual changes, and the effect of such changes on the residents of the area. Their lives are precarious, and the urban renewal (although not yet progressed sufficiently that most of the residents have been much inconvenienced) will within the next two years make many of their situations untenable. Scheduled redevelopment of the area will produce a new problem population-unless these people can find another area which gives them the same support as they now have, their self-reliant mode of dealing with their needs will be threatened and probably destroyed. Stakeholders-residents, planners, officials and minority representatives-are brought together in periodical seminars to focus multiple perspectives on the design, procedures, and recommendations of the project.